i scored a Hotcake 2 months ago and love it, tho it does sound rather darker than i'd imagined.
seems to work best as either a darkish overdrive or as a coloured boost before an amp that's already breaking up.
wasn't he using a blue Boss vibrato pedal at some point recently?
i also think i saw a Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere in there on the Sessions at West 54th DVD.
*waits patiently for someone to scan in and post the pic of Neil's pedalboard*